Popped Bubbles
by LoveBug53
Summary: Marlin, Nemo, and Dory; what troubles can our fishy friends get into? A bunch of prompts, human AU, pairings, drama, bubbles, and friendship included. Open for your suggestions! All requests (nothing graphic!) will be done. Contains a lot of Dory/Marlin. Picture by marsbarrl on Deviantart.
1. Hugging

1. Hugging

Anxiously pacing around in circles, her sneakers managing to squeak along with each step, Dory had absolutely no idea of what to do, as she wearily made her way around the living room of Marlin's apartment.

Surrounding her was an empty sofa and chair, a blank television screen, and a silence, which only continued to unsettle her to no end, as her heart and mind continued to battle it out with one another, a thing which seemed to be happening more and more often as the days went by. It probably didn't help that her thoughts had been taking her to such dark places recently.

Dark. Alone; like how she had felt when he'd first left her. It had been during that long week; the week that they'd found Nemo.

Oh, and that look he had given her. It had been so sad, and oh, so tired. Like his entire world had just been destroyed, taken away from him forever...

_"Nemo's gone... And I'm going home now."_

She remembered how much her heart had hurt when he said that. Since meeting him, never had Dory wanted to be separated from his side.

_"Please... Please don't go away."_

In her mind, she held onto visions of him and his son.

Nemo was such a sweet boy to her. It was an absolute shame that anything had _ever_ happened to him before.

_"Bye Dory! Bye dad! See ya after school!"_

Though she had been expecting a different reaction from him, Nemo had been incredibly excited at the prospect of simply having her presence there in their home. In short, Nemo was enamored with Dory, and her with him. He was such a bright boy, always smiling around her, bringing along with him just a bit of sunshine to lighten her days.

Him and his father were what made her happy each morning.

Dory's mind went back onto the image of Marlin's kind face. Sure, he hadn't always been that way to her, especially in the beginning, but she had always seen the potential in it being in there, and though he had tried to sound so tough and coarse with her... in actuality, he had really been just a big softie. Him, and that cute little orange and white collard shirt he constantly insisted on wearing.

Weeks, she had already been staying in his apartment. Three wonderful, fun, and happy weeks; the happiest three weeks that she had ever had in her life, at least, she thought so, anyway. For some reason, she couldn't seem to remember her life before them, although, after meeting Marlin and Nemo, all of her previous years had seemed to absolutely disappear from her mind.

That thought brought a smile to her face.

Still, she couldn't really remember her family.

But... to tell the truth, Dory didn't really _need_ a family.

She _had_ a new family now.

At least... that is, until they became tired of her and her quirks. Her talkativeness, her loudness, her easily excitable-ness, and her forgetfulness...

Surely they would tire of her.

Right?

No... but... hadn't Marlin offered her to stay?

Oh, Dory just didn't know what to do!

How was she to ever tell him of her fears? Of the dreams that she was having each night.

Letting in a low breath, the girl rested a hand over her heart, trying her hardest to get in a few, good calming breaths before the clock struck four and her two boys came strolling in, smiling, as they walked through the apartment's front door.

_Come on, Dory. Breath in... Breath out..._

_You'll be fine. Absolutely fine._

The sound of a door unlatching pulled her from her thoughts.

"We're home, Dory!" cried Nemo. She listened, her lips quirking upward at the sound of him excitedly throwing his bags down onto the floor so he could find her and eagerly rush into her arms.

A small bit of wall obstructed their view of her.

Marlin felt himself smile at his son's antics. Reaching down to slip off his shoes, the man glanced up, idly calling out to her.

"Dory?" Spoken in the strangled, familiar voice of Marlin, the sound of her name falling from his lips never seemed to not make her heart race. Feeling the heat of a blush creeping up her neck, she managed to let out a small chuckle, as a bright smile slipped onto her face.

"Hey guys!" She giddily waved over to them, grinning brightly as they came around the corner.

Immediately, Nemo came running up, stopping by her side to throw his arms around her waist in a tight hug. He was bouncing upon the balls of his feet as he beamed happily up at her.

"Dory, you'll never guess what I learned from Sandy Plankton today!"

She just as eagerly returned the embrace. "Can't wait, Cheko!"

From behind him, Marlin walked in, laughing. "That Sandy Plankton. Even after all that I've been through, Nemo _still_ believes that that guy knows more than I do."

"Well, duh. Dory- he's a _scientist_, dad."

At this, Marlin glanced down to send Nemo a queer look. "Um, Nemo. I have no idea what he's been telling you, but... real scientists _don't _get their PhD's on the internet."

Nemo rolled his eyes, clearly unrelenting with the admiration he held for his friend. "Yeah right. Whatever, dad." He let go of Dory, running off to turn on the living room's TV.

As Dory watched him go, she saw Marlin shake his head in the corner of her eye. Reaching a hand up to his orange-red hair, he let out a small, happy chuckle in his son's direction.

"Oh, Dory. What am I to do with him?"

"Oh, I really don't know..." Dory practically bounced towards him. She stopped in front of him, her usually dorky smile showing proudly across her freckled face. "A trip to Disney World, perhaps?"

Marlin sent her a look which read 'don't push your luck'. It surprised her, and caused Dory to fumble over her words.

"B-But I do think that you're doing a good job with him."

This threw him for a loop. Pausing beside Dory, he looked questioningly towards her. "R-Really? You think so?" He sounded so unsure of his self as he stood there; like he thought he was doing a terrible job at being Nemo's father. He was a _wonderful _father!

And Dory hated seeing him like that.

Ever the chipper of the two, she cried, "Of _course _I do. H-How could I not?"

"Oh..."

Marlin didn't know what to say...

He stood there, unsure of what to do next.

After a long moment of silence, he finally nodded towards her, a tiny glint of tears beginning to shine in his eyes. "Um. Well, thank you for that Dory. For saying that."

"No."

She caught him off guard, quickly throwing her arms around his waist.

"What the-?" The brows on his forehead rose up to his hairline.

"Thank _you_."

* * *

Hey, guys! Please leave a comment if you liked it, and leave a prompt if you'd like me to write anything.

_Anything._ Seriously guys, give me a prompt and I'll do it!~

Baiiii!

~LoveBug53


	2. Running

2. Running

Dory loved running.

And walking...

And talking.

Basically, anything and everything that helped keep her, or her jaw, moving.

And whenever she found the chance to run, she would.

The girl would go outside and run, just _run_, and she would run her little heart out.

_Just keep running. Just keep running, _her head seemed to mentally chant each, and every time she stepped out of Marlin's front door for a workout.

I mean, what else did she have to do with all of her days off, hmm?

Well, besides getting a job. But that was for another day.

* * *

"Woo, what a workout!" Dory breathily laughed.

Glancing down beside her, the girl smiled as her purple eyes landed on the small, orange-haired boy, who was _just _barley managing to keep his pace with her. He was straggling from behind, completely out of breath, and his chest continued to heave heavily with each step, but he was going strong and Dory was _extremely _proud of him for that. He was determined to stay with her, and that was what had made her so happy for him.

She sent a giant smile in his direction. "Good work, Harpo! You're doing well with keeping up, for a first timer."

"Ugh." Nemo fumbled for a moment, his legs growing tired from his short space behind her. Inside, the boy felt as if he were dying.

"T-Thanks," he gulped for air, "Dory."

The girl grinned in his direction, momentarily deciding to slow her long sprints into a short and light, medium jog.

As a thought suddenly struck her, the beam on her face intensified. "Yup, and just think Fabio. If you two do this every evening, one day your father might even be able to catch up with us!"

With this, both runners turned back to Marlin, who was slowly bringing up the rear, running a couple of meters behind them.

Though they could both easily tell how much the sudden exercise was affecting him, they also knew how much he really needed it.

I mean, Marlin certainly wasn't getting any younger.

"D-Dory!" He called out, his muscles seeming to flail awkwardly, as he tried to keep a steady pace. The man felt like a fish who had been caught, and left out of the sun for too long. He frowned deeply and swallowed, before greedily gasping out for the air he so desperately needed. "C-Can't we take a break?"

"What? But it's too early!" The girl cried, still turning to pause in her running to allow him time to catch up with them.

s he gradually approached them, Dory managed to keep her speed up by diligently jogging in place. Reaching the back of her hand to the top of her forehead, she brushed at the dark blue bangs, which were beginning to fall over her eyes. They had fallen from the tight ponytail she had begun her run with.

As she watched him come towards her, she suddenly noticed _just _how much he was starting to slow down.

Hmm, maybe he needed a bit of encouragement. "Aw, come on! You're slowing down, Grumpy Gills!"

"Y-Yeah," Nemo panted "C-Come on, dad!"

That was it! Marlin new that he couldn't go on any further.

Skidding to a wild halt next to them, Marlin let in a breath of air, throwing his head down in absolute exhaustion. Panting for a long moment, his back heaving up and down, he tried to regain all of the air that he had just lost during his first lame attempt at exercise.

Had Dory _actually_ expected him to do this every day? Over his dead, freaking body!

"M-Maybe... Maybe I should sit out the next mile, guys."

Dory shook her head at him. "But why? It's only a bit further, and then we'll be at the pier. Only a bit and we'll be there. Come on, won't you go ahead and finish the rest of the way with us?"

"I-I... I don't know Dory, but I really don't feel like running anymore. I'm just... " Marlin sighed. "I'm just too old and tired to be doing things like this. I'm not the young man that I used to be, ya know."

"Oh, really? You? _Young_?" The smirk in Dory's voice caused him to send an annoyed look in her direction. She threw her palms up in submission. "What, what did I do? Don't look at me like that Marlin, it's a very weird concept."

In return, he simply grumbled beneath his breath.

"Besides..." Dory suddenly reached out for his hand.

Marlin quickly glanced up at her. It was then that their eyes met, and for a moment, all of time and space seemed to stop for him.

Well, that was odd.

Coral had been the only other person to ever make him feel that way.

For the longest time, Marlin could only blink stupidly as she finally finished her statement.

"Why would you think that we'd leave you behind?"

"... Well-"

With a hand clasped tightly around one of his, Dory put down her other free hand for Nemo to grasp on to, and when he took hold of it, Dory began to eagerly pull on Marlin's arm, happily leading both him and Nemo in the direction of the pier.

"Come on boys, we're getting ice cream!"

Nemo practically skipped along with joy. "Yeah!"

"And guess what?" She looked over her shoulder, sending a cheeky wink in Marlin's direction. "We are _walking_ the entire way!... I only hope that you have your wallet with you, Mr. Clownfish."

Shooting a quick downward glance to the stripped orange and white shirt he usually wore, Marlin let out a humorless bark of a laugh. "Hardy-har, very funny Dory." He took a moment to stick out his tongue at her. "You should be a comedian."

"I know." Dory giggled at her own joke. "Too bad I'm unemployed."

"Yeah, it's too bad."

Though his comment had come out sounding sour, as his eyes lingered on the form of her slender back in front of him, the tiniest bit of a smile managed to slip through his usually rough facade. Against her knowledge, he actually _liked _having her in his apartment. It would be weird if she suddenly disappeared from their lives...

Man, Dory was such a sweet and caring girl. The perfect female figure for him and his son...

_"Bad, but not too bad."_

"What?"

Shaking his head at himself, Marlin let out a long, thin chuckle. "Nothing, nothing."


End file.
